Time for a catch up?

My brother got married! ( I took all the photos! argh!)

Dirt Girl turned 8!    8!!!

We took some girls camping to celebrate.....

We took an overnighter to the beach for Robs Birthday..

It rained

But it was fun and funny

Planted some a lot of beetroot, someone else is enjoying them too?

Lettuce seeds planted

Tomatos too (with a nice little cover for the nights to save them from frost)

Bird watching. One of Zaras gifts was a HUGE book called 'What bird is that?' we identified this lovely one as a red browed finch, extremely common :)

Important holiday business

The luxury of time on school holidays

I like to call this one 'The Reluctant Walker' thats the boy, not the dog :)


What a whirl wind few weeks! But the future is all relaxing and sewing, well for the most part!
We will be at The Castlemaine Artists Market on the 7th of October for our first market for the spring. How is your spring going along? Do you have a great spurt of birthdays at this time too??

I am linking in with Squiggly Rainbows garden journal this week.


Jacq :)

No rain here!

This holidays the days have been all clear and blue skys so far, although they have been a bit chilly!

So, we crafted :) 

Avalon looked through all the Alphabet Glue e-mags and chose the tiny box with the accordion book.  We made....heaps!

We used scrapbook paper from my stash....

Used the 'chopper' but you could easily do it with scissors

A little snip here and there.....

Reading those instructions.....

Finished!

A hidey place for secrets....

I made a few too ;)

..... the mess!

I love going to crafty blogs, but they can be intimidating in the way that everything looks perfect and magical and effortless, which can make us mere mortals feel less than awesome!....so I hope to remember to post a 'reality' type photo with anything we make...this is what it all looked like when we were done!

 But I can happily type that no tantrums were chucked during the making of these boxes even after I measured a couple heap in a row wrongly, you can see them all in a pile in the last photo

  (they WERE pretty easy actually! I was just being daft!)

Next Zara wants to make bug keeper boxes ...stay tuned!

If you're interested in getting Alphabet Glue for your family just click on the little picture on the side bar >>   it will take you to the website!

What kind of stuff do you do in the holidays?

Jacq :)

School Holidays and my secret weapon

So, did you survive Day 1?

The weather enabled us to get outdoors today and after seeing the forecast for the week (rain, rain and more rain) I made sure we got outside for some fresh air and a run about, that cabin fever sets in pretty quick around here!

I am actually looking forward to a rainy week. Yes, that sounds very odd I realise. School holidays, 3 busy children and rainy days aren't something you normally put together and enjoy. Quite the contrary really.

But I have a plan, a secret plan! For a while now I have seen about the traps in internet land, an e-magazine for kids (and their mums and dads!) called Alphabet Glue. I had never really given it much of a look until the other day. 

Its damn awesome! 

Its not a glossy, loud commercial orientated publication, nothing like what you find on a supermarket shelf.

Its all about books and writing and story telling and doing stuff. Lots of printables for things to get busy with. The kind of fun that includes learning with out them knowing it, thats very best kind of learning.

Visually lovely too, simple with lovely cheery colors, easy to read and understand.....can you tell I like it?? 

Its cheap as chips too at only US$4 an issue, I chose to buy all 7 issues for $26. Thats alot of fun for $26. Heres whats in the current issue....

They come in a pdf file, which is great for our lovely earth, you just print what you need, and you can do that as many time as you like! It was super easy to pay for too, I just used paypal and it was done.

If you want to check it out further, and I REALLY think you should, you can click the picture I have put on the right hand side of the blog, it will take you right there. Easy peasy.

I look forward to sharing the activities we do together with you! 

Jacq :)

Something for me! or A new baby! (not that sort!!)

You know what? I bought myself a present. I am generally not an 'over consumer'. I like op shops. 

But when I feel the need for something, I like to have it! (of course!) 

A couple of years ago I bought myself a professional Kitchen Aid, I make bread in it and
I love it. It replaced poor old Ken ( Robs Mums old Kenwood Chef ) I consider it to be child # 7..

Numbers 1,2 and 3 are my own children, then there's Jade and Rach (#'s 4 and 5) my faux daughters and Clancy (Griffins best mate) is # 6, Kitchen Aid is #7...just to clarify!

And so, I have a new baby, child #8. A Canon 550. Oh my     a w e s o m e     !

I have also started an ecourse (never done anything like that before!) 

with Erin from http://bluebirdbaby.typepad.com/. Its a 6 week photography course.

 I have switched my camera to manual and I am loving it!

Something for me, no one needs to share it with me. 

.mine.

Heres a couple of photos for you :)

 

That look is a  'Mum......thats like the 20th picture.....can you stop now?'

Oh so much fun! 

Mums and Dads are such good sharers......

but what is something you keep for yourself? 

We all need a little something of our own don't you think?



and....I have been working so hard on a big secret project! (can't share yet though!) I have done my part now, so its up to the universe now to make it happen.  I hope to get back to blogging more regularly now I have a weeny bit less on my plate! 



:) Jacq

A Day Off, well mostly!

A Butterfly, either a very new one or a very old one...

A Teeny Snail, found by my snail lover

Baking bread and saving seeds

Another use for that expensive Italian preserving jar that I couldn't live with out

Pretending to be a farmer (metal flowers from Shades of Gray )

Ah Autumn! Roasting pumpkin for soup... 'again??' said Avalon, yes my love, again :)

Robs new project..finished!

Noah's Ark pulls apart to store all those lovely animals

Mr & Mrs Noah

I am so excited to show you Rob's finished Ark! I am not sure when one will make it into our Etsy Shop or to the market, it seems they are quite in demand! This one was sold before it was even finished and there are orders for 2 more.....We require a little time to complete one of these as you can imagine, but if it tickles your fancy, let us know, we will put you in line!

What are you up to during these lovely Autumn days?

Happy Days!

Jacq :)

Easter Saturday

Today we braved the crowds and took a little trip into our nearest major town, Bendigo, to see a wood turners exhibition! I am so glad we did, their work was so inspiring! And I must say I do think they were glad to have a good chat with Rob, probably a young man by their standards, and pass on some of their knowledge. 

OMGosh there were so many beautiful pieces.....I am not a collector really, but in the last few years I  have found myself hunting out wooden bowls in op shops and such, so I was in wooden bowl heaven today.......

Such a variety of things to look at...

I rather fancied this little set of drawers

Something like this would make a lovely gift

Even wooden beer bottles...lol!

I *did* buy myself a wooden bowl today, I couldn't resist!

The new bowl was quickly snaffled to decorate the table for the Easter Bunny, please note the elaborate, highly artistic meal of carrot and chocolate created in case said Bunny was hungry AND to the top right you will see a 4 page book filled with questions for the Easter bunny...

Questions like...do you have any children?......what is your favourite instrument?.....What is your real name?.....Do you make the chocolate? .... What do you give children that aren't allowed dairy or sugar??...and so on and so forth..

I sure don't envy the Easter Bunny having to fill out all those questions on what much be a very tight schedule!

I hope you are having a wonderful Easter and theres some chocolate hidden somewhere in the morning just for you ;)

Jacq :)

Easter Holidays Crafting

hello! 

Yes its been a little while since I have written in this space, there has been plenty of writing going on.....just for different reasons :)

We had some lovely visitors today which made it the perfect time for making some easter friends! 

Using this pattern we made the sweetest little bunny finger puppets! 

These girls did a great job with a little help and I am sure any grown up could do a respectable job too :)

I used acrylic felt bought for 70 cents a sheet, and some cotton and embroidery thread that I already had. I think any child all the way down to a small toddler would love to have a bunny to have an easter adventure with! Here are some pictures of our day to inspire you to make your own...

Cutting out the pattern

How do you use pins?? Some new skills were learnt

Our bunnies had spots in their ears :)

Go on, make a bunny :D

Jacq :)

Weekends are lovely aren't they?

Sunday Sunrise (thats just wrong isnt it??)

Panorama fun...

lovely to swim...

bread baked

Sewing in pyjamas

FAILED yogurt.......

and nearly 12 yrs old....

I hope your weekend was filled with things you relly wanted to do!


Jacq :)